I particularly liked the description of the teacher, as more of a coach and leader, and the emphasis on experience as a tool for learning.  In the games that bring history to life it is interesting how it will be possible to provide a real insight into what life was actually like for those experiencing key events from different ... ]]>

This is my first mini review of a talk from IT conversations, it is an interview by Moira Gunn with Dr. Henry Jenkins and explains how he thinks video games will revolutionise education. Dr. Jenkins is the director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the co-editor of Rethinking Media Change: The Aesthetics of Transition (Media in Transition).   The talk is truly fascinating, and pretty scary when you think about the dramatic affects it will have on the capability and outlook that the kids of the future.  Surprisingly this talk and others point out that the gamer generation will have different attitudes to work and will need to be managed differently, this talk by John Beck, a Senior Research Fellow at USC’s Annenberg Center of the Digital Future, is on that topic.

I particularly liked the description of the teacher, as more of a coach and leader, and the emphasis on experience as a tool for learning.  In the games that bring history to life it is interesting how it will be possible to provide a real insight into what life was actually like for those experiencing key events from different perspectives, it will no longer to a sequential textbook description.  He also talks about a science game where students try and master magnetic fields by learning to navigate through them, the teacher then explains the theory and the kids can try again this time with an evolved understanding of the underlying theory.  He mentions that in the classroom of the future kids will use textbooks as “cheat sheets” that help them play the game better.  This is much more true to life in the real world which is of course all about doing things and researching to do things better.

The best part of the talk was where Henry talked about about the process of producing a game.  The producer asks the teacher “why are we teaching this – what is its purpose” ie what is the relevance of the knowledge learned to some real activity.  You would hope that the teachers had a good answer but invariably I suspect the answer is “it’s important”.  As someone who likes to learn by experience and apply what I have learned the whole talk was music to my ears.

That said I am not a gamer! why? because I am worried that I will get drawn into it and never get any work done or spend time with my family etc,  I have an addictive personality and games certainly sound addictive!

If you want more, then try reading this interview on Education and Violence, these books,  and this wide ranging interview.

My eldest daughter, Stephie, made a lovely sign and we put the 15 bags of plants in a big plastic container on the path outside the house.  The sign read – Free Strawberries – and was nicely illustrated.  Next to the container was a small wooden bowl which I put a little loose change in; to get things going.  After three days all 15 bags have gone, we ... ]]>

On Saturday I started to pull up all of the strawberry plants that had rooted from runners last year.  I ended up with several hundred plants in a big heap.  I decided that it would be a good idea to give them away, but my wife though tno one would be interested.  I took this as a bit of a challenge,  I am one of those people who likes to think the best of others (which is an extension of having a positive outlook) my wife in contrast always expects things to go wrong and tends to distrust those she doesn’t know.  Anyway I bagged the plants up – 15 plants to a bag – and to make the challenge more interesting decided to give the plants away but allow for donations.

My eldest daughter, Stephie, made a lovely sign and we put the 15 bags of plants in a big plastic container on the path outside the house.  The sign read – Free Strawberries – and was nicely illustrated.  Next to the container was a small wooden bowl which I put a little loose change in; to get things going.  After three days all 15 bags have gone, we collected about £5 in donations and so far as I can tell, none of the donated money was removed.

I thought it was a pretty good illustration of my view on life:

• I gave something away which made me feel good
• I provided the opportunity for donation, but no obligation, and most people donated
• At least 15 people appreciated the gesture, so that made them feel good
• No one stole any of the money, or took an unfair number of plants, (the bags went roughly 1 at a time), so I feel better about my neighbourhood
• Hopefully people will enjoy the crop for years to come
• Hopefully a few more people will stop and chat as the year progresses
• Maybe others will do the same with other plants and spare produce and community spirit will improve, we will see

We give a lot to charity and to charity shops, but this tiny experiment was a much more direct way of engaging with the community and redistributing excess.  It was also interesting to see the effect on the kids who were fascinated by the whole process, and it was all I could do to stop them from perching at the front of the house and becoming market sales girls, not because of the money but because of the enjoyable banter they engaged in on a fine spring day.

Health

What a year it’s been, around the middle of January 2004 I started with another flare of Adult Onset Still’s Disease, which had been in remission for about 8 months.  This time no remission has occurred and one year on I am still suffering. However I have come to terms with it well and am approaching the point after many experiments (often painful) and lots of record keeping, research and analysis I think I am on the brink of getting things under control. ... ]]>

I thought I would take the opportunity to look back on my year (and a funny old year it’s been) before looking forward to the new year in a few days.  It’s nice and quiet in the house and after such a lovely time (Christmas Morning) it’s left me in an appropriately reflective mood, so here goes:

Health

What a year it’s been, around the middle of January 2004 I started with another flare of Adult Onset Still’s Disease, which had been in remission for about 8 months.  This time no remission has occurred and one year on I am still suffering. However I have come to terms with it well and am approaching the point after many experiments (often painful) and lots of record keeping, research and analysis I think I am on the brink of getting things under control.  My Specialists now think as well as AOSD I have two other secondary auto-immune disorders Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

The conditions are very unpredictable resulting in a great difficulty in planning things, so living in the moment has become the order of the day.

Also for all of the conditions exercise and variety of movement and activity are essential which means that although I work from home my days have a lot of variety with (when I can manage it) lots of beach walking, swimming, walking to the shops, trampolining in the garden, reading in the garden, working on the beach or beach side Cafes, as well as working in my very well equipped home office.

Happiness

I decided to start the review with Health because its pretty negative, which makes this section all the more amazing.  I am in fact much happier this year than last year. Although I live with daily pain and frustration there are many positives I have managed to build into my life, here is a sampler:

1. My work and family life are seamlessly integrated, by this I mean that whenever the opportunity arises to spend time with my family I am able to take that time and fit work around that primary commitment.  This means I often find myself working at odd times but that’s no hassle as I have trained myself to work within my health limitations.
2. When I am tired, in pain, finding it difficult to concentrate I just do something else and being at home there’s plenty to do
3. I can take advantage of good weather, and where I live we have a very positive micro-climate that means we get much better weather than the poor folks in Preston just 20 miles inland!
4. I have trained myself to avoid frustration, this works most of the time, one of the most frustrating things for me was that my company would not invest in my productivity.  I decided as soon as I became ill that I earned enough money to invest in my own productivity so I now have a superb working environment and IT facilities, (some paid for by the company but a lot of it a personal commitment to my well being).  I also invest quite a lot in my own comfort, expensive walking gear, swimming gear, bike etc – I still save quite a lot but within limits I now feel little or no guilt about spending the money I save by working from home on MYSELF.
5. I have re-discovered reading, I used to read a lot but then lapsed into business reading/reviewing dominating most of my available reading time.  Largely because of AOSD and the need to take lots of rest and hot baths (I read in the bath) I have started reading for 1 or 2 hours a day, I joined a reading group which has exposed me to all types of books I would never have come across and the monthly discussions have been very stimulating.  We had a Christmas party this year which was great fun with everyone talking about their favourite books and it’s becoming quite a social event.
6. I am getting loads of exercise, which probably sounds strange when you have a condition that gives you systemic/chronic muscle and joint pain and fatigue, however within limits the more you do with these conditions the better you feel.  I love walking, swimming and cycling and live just by the sea and within a few minutes of a great health club.  I usually have the pool to myself!  On some bad days I live for the exercise; when the endorphins get flowing I feel so much better than suffering in a chair trying to type with painful fingers, wrists, neck, back, ankles …
7. Although I work from home I don’t feel isolated, in fact I probably spend more time on social interaction than I did in a business oriented office environment.  The combination of lots of eating out, reading groups, family life, social get togethers for lunch with friends, instant messenger and phone chats and the odd visit to the office are quite enough for a mild Asbergers Syndrome sufferer like myself.
8. I have discovered RSS feeds, which provide me with a constant stream of interesting reading material on all sorts of topics, (many work related), but lots on broader topics as well.
9. I have trained myself to live more in the moment, to save less and spend more on experience than things, this particularly applies to the kids who soak up a lot of money in a whole variety of music, drama and sports lessons but to see them develop is a real joy, especially for Debbie who dreams of all of them playing together.  Debbie plays Violin and Cello, Stephie: keyboard and Viola, Jenny: Clarinet and Flute, Anna: Flute and Recorder, Tessa: Bugle and Trumpet.  All of the girls are great singers and love drama; Stephie is also quite the academic.
10.  I eat out a lot, it’s one of my real joys to eat breakfast every morning in one of our beach side Cafes,  I know all of the staff and after a morning walk I tend to spend an hour working there and preparing for the day.  It’s the best start I can imagine.  We also regularly eat out as a family, generally in places where we are well known, and any family with four lovely girls like ours quickly gets well known!
11. Work no longer dominates my life, see later …

Family

Although it was a bit of a struggle for Debbie to suddenly have me interrupting her daily routine and having to learn to get used to not having the house to herself all day, I think she has adjusted well.  She now has so much more freedom, gets out a lot more and has time to indulge her creativity by supporting the Church in general and the kids club she runs in particular.   I am a fully integrated member of the family now, not just a weekend Dad and the kids seem to really enjoy that, although it does mean there is a bit more structure and discipline!

In general though I think we have done really well as a family:

1. Debbie has had time to develop as her own person at last after years dominated by looking after the house and kids
2. The girls have all developed tremendously becoming much more balanced individuals, and all picking up some great life skills as well as working hard at school
3. We have managed quite a lot of holidays, thanks to Debbie’s fantastic organising, and although we have had to take the risk that I will be ok, we managed three holidays (North Wales, West Wales and Scotland) and I managed to largely keep up each time

Work

Of course work has changed dramatically for me, but in many ways the change has been positive.  I have had to reduce my hours and work from home.  I do less time sensitive stressful customer facing work, and concentrate on longer term internal research and strategy.  There is a bit more of a story to tell:

1. I was getting very frustrated by the degree to which politics and administration were dominating my days, requiring me to do actual creative work during the evenings – long days – this has changed completely now.  I only work 5-6 hours a day but of that probably 5 hours a day is either research or creative activity or constructive communication, much more enjoyable
2. I was very frustrated by the poor quality of my office environment and tools – I now work at home in an office that I have designed and optimised to meet my needs.  I share the Office with my wife which is nice (most of the time) and have spared little expense in getting things the way I want them (eBay has helped again here in making this affordable)
3. I work mainly on global projects, most of my interactions are using Instant Messenger, Conference Calls (I have a Polycom conference phone), or Email so it doesn’t matter much where I work.  I just wish I had a Blackberry or GPRS/Wireless access from my Tablet PC but that will almost certainly be resolved next year.   I would love seamless/easy to use Voice/Video and application sharing with my main contacts but again it’s not too far away.
4. I bought myself a Tablet PC which has transformed the way in which I read and review, particularly because I no longer do that sitting at my desk, I now do it by the side of the swimming pool, in a deck chair in my garden, sitting in a café watching the sunrise/sunset etc etc.  Much better for my physical health (I need to move around a lot) and much more fun!
5. I am still trying to get my new work role fully established, I have it clear in my mind,  its just a the small step of getting people to agree to pay me to do it that remains, but I am confident that January will see that bought to conclusion
6. I have noticed that by being available to consult on lots of projects I am adding a surprising amount of value, every month I manage to provide advice to someone that saves £50-£200K, not a bad return on investment.
7. I have been disappointed to see some of my friends leave my company, but pleased to see them making a new life for themselves.  Hopefully a few will stay as it’s nice to have a network of friends that you know you can rely on.  I am pleased to say though that so far the people who leave still keep in touch and we are establishing quite a little community of people working for all of the major IT service Providers in the UK!
8. My company has been very good to me in all sorts of ways, primarily people who I know and who care about me have been great, people who’s job it is to care (but don’t know me) have not been so good and the bureaucracy has been pretty abysmal – but that’s to be expected in a large company – but not forgiven!

Summary

I was sort of inspired to write this by Graham, when I read his review I thought – where’s the summary – he later wrote one.  Anyway here’s mine.

1. A very challenging year
2. A year filled with physical pain and frustration
3. A year of successful reinvention
4. Perhaps not my best year ever but certainly better than the previous two years
5. A year of considerable reflection and preparation for an even better year next year, hopefully my best ever

1. On Christmas Eve the girls were allowed to choose one present to open, inevitably they chose ones that looked most like clothes so that they could where them on Christmas morning!
2. They all went to bed nice and early without a peep (very unusual) as they all understand that Father Christmas misses any houses where children are awake J
3. Debbie and I acting as Father Christmas’ helpers then packed up 4 gift bags that Father Christmas was to deliver that night to their bedrooms, one of the nice touches is that during holidays the Twins sleep in bunk beds with their older sisters instead of together.
4. On Christmas morning we let the kids open their presents from Santa at 7:00AM (and the rest after breakfast) although they often hold one or two back to open on boxing day; which is my Birthday.
5. This morning Debbie crept into their rooms just after 6:00AM and found them sitting on their beds surrounded by unopened gifts patiently waiting for 7:00 to arrive (bless) I think she let them sneak a ... ]]>

   It’s Christmas day today and the girls have had a fantastic time opening and enjoying their presents.  It started like this:

    

   1. On Christmas Eve the girls were allowed to choose one present to open, inevitably they chose ones that looked most like clothes so that they could where them on Christmas morning!
   2. They all went to bed nice and early without a peep (very unusual) as they all understand that Father Christmas misses any houses where children are awake J
   3. Debbie and I acting as Father Christmas’ helpers then packed up 4 gift bags that Father Christmas was to deliver that night to their bedrooms, one of the nice touches is that during holidays the Twins sleep in bunk beds with their older sisters instead of together.
   4. On Christmas morning we let the kids open their presents from Santa at 7:00AM (and the rest after breakfast) although they often hold one or two back to open on boxing day; which is my Birthday.
   5. This morning Debbie crept into their rooms just after 6:00AM and found them sitting on their beds surrounded by unopened gifts patiently waiting for 7:00 to arrive (bless) I think she let them sneak a few open early although I was fast asleep so the details are none too clear.
   6. Just after 7:00 though they all paraded into our bedroom with their presents and to our relief could not have been happier, Santa had been very busy on eBay this year and so Christmas was not as expensive as usual but the quality of the presents, especially the array of musical instruments and accessories was amazing!
   7. A very nice touch this year was that Father Christmas wrote each of the girls a lovely letter bound with ribbon that looked back on their year and what he had been most impressed with and explained why he had chosen the presents he had and what he was looking forward to them achieving next year (just the sort of thing my wife would have thought of had she been seconded to the North Pole this year J)
   8. Their present lust slated for a while, we managed a very leisurely breakfast before letting the girls loose on taking all the presents from under our giant tree in the hall into piles (per person) in the living room.  
   9. Then another hour of present opening frenzy (my least favourite part of Christmas I am afraid) followed by tidying and filtering out the presents that would form the centre of the days activities.
   10. The at 10:00 Debbie and Two of the girls went off to Church and Me and the remaining two kids went for a nice walk along the beach, we dropped in on our friends at the Café/restaurants who were preparing for their Christmas customers and then rushed home to make some fresh bread for our buffet lunch.
   11. Debbie made a fantastic buffet (I contributed the hot bread) which incredibly was all eaten and the girls went out to play in the ‘snow’ (we had a 10 minute hail storm)
   12. Everyone has just finished a biscuit snack now and are settling down to some good traditional Christmas TV, while Debbie prepares our roast dinner!
   13. I might just go out for another walk though and try and walk off those biscuits and ease up my aching muscles.

    

   All in all the best Christmas so far I think – and a great meal and quiet TV night tonight and it’s my birthday tomorrow so it’s not over yet.

   ]]> http://steves.seasidelife.com/2004/12/25/christmas/feed/ 0 http://steves.seasidelife.com/2004/12/07/if-you-only-read-one-blog-make-it-this-one/ http://steves.seasidelife.com/2004/12/07/if-you-only-read-one-blog-make-it-this-one/#comments Wed, 08 Dec 2004 00:50:00 +0000 Steve Richards http://steves.seasidelife.com/2004/12/07/if-you-only-read-one-blog-make-it-this-one/ I continue to be amazed by Dave Pollard and how he manages to provide us with such thought provoking insights into How To Save The World on a daily basis.  To give you a glimpse of his motivation look at the following snip, and then read his bio.

   Five years ago, at the age of 48, I decided it was time to stop complaining and being depressed about the state of the world, and start doing something about it. I began to read voraciously, an average of two books a week, and gradually put together a picture in my own mind of the current state of the world, how we got here, and what we needed to do about it. In February of last year I started a weblog, in part because I wanted to share what I had learned, and in part to discuss it with others and find out if they felt the same way that I did

    

   ]]>

   I continue to be amazed by Dave Pollard and how he manages to provide us with such thought provoking insights into How To Save The World on a daily basis.  To give you a glimpse of his motivation look at the following snip, and then read his bio.

   Five years ago, at the age of 48, I decided it was time to stop complaining and being depressed about the state of the world, and start doing something about it. I began to read voraciously, an average of two books a week, and gradually put together a picture in my own mind of the current state of the world, how we got here, and what we needed to do about it. In February of last year I started a weblog, in part because I wanted to share what I had learned, and in part to discuss it with others and find out if they felt the same way that I did

    

   ]]> http://steves.seasidelife.com/2004/12/07/if-you-only-read-one-blog-make-it-this-one/feed/ 0